WASHINGTON, D.C.—Fifth year attackman Patrick Daly (Shrewsbury, Mass.) led six different goal scorers with his 11^th hat trick of the season but No. 11/10 Villanova (10-4, 3-2 BIG EAST) fell to No. 8/7 Georgetown (10-3, 5-0 BIG EAST) by a final score of 12-8 at Cooper Field on Friday night in the regular season finale for both teams. After clinching a spot in next week's BIG EAST Championship last weekend, the Wildcats earned the #3 seed in the conference tournament as a result of games played Friday night.
 
Daly has scored three or more goals 11 times in 14 games this season and he netted goals in the first, third and fourth quarters of Friday's contest. He was the lone Villanova player to score more than once against the Hoyas, who used a four-goal run over eight minutes spanning the third and fourth periods to gradually pull away from the Wildcats in what was mostly a back-and-forth affair for the majority of the contest. Villanova trailed 5-4 early in the third period and was within 8-6 with 3:52 to play in that quarter.
 
Georgetown pushed the lead to 12-6 midway through the final period before the Wildcats scored the final two goals of the game. Daly completed his hat trick on an assist from sophomore Luke Raymond (Crownsville, Md.) with 3:05 to play and junior midfielder Will Wheeler (Mercer Island, Wash.) scored the second goal of his career with 2:22 remaining. It was the 38^th time this season that Villanova has tallied consecutive goals that came less than a minute apart.
 
Senior faceoff specialist Justin Coppola (Garden City, N.Y.) broke the Wildcats career record for ground balls during the contest and he won the faceoff following the Wheeler goal to give Villanova another possession with just over two minutes left and perhaps one final chance at mounting a late comeback bid. A turnover by the Wildcats moments later thwarted that possibility however, and the Hoyas held possession of the ball until there were only 31 seconds to play.
 
Coppola won 11 faceoffs and had 12 ground balls in the game and now has 335 for his career. That puts him three ground balls ahead of Chris Colliniates (2004-07) and marks the second time in as many weeks that Coppola has broken a Villanova career record. In a win over Marquette last weekend, Coppola broke the Wildcats record for career faceoff wins with the 591^st of his career on the overtime faceoff which set up a game-winning possession. Coppola and Colliniates are the only players in school history to have at least 300 ground balls.
 
Villanova has had a record-breaking season which has seen five all-time program marks be broken. In addition to the ground ball and faceoff records for Coppola, fifth year midfielder Matt Campbell (Madison, N.J.) set new Wildcats standards for career goals and career points earlier this season. Fifth year goalie Will Vitton (Summit, N.J.) became the winningest netminder in program history when he recorded his 35^th career victory in a win over St. John's earlier this month.
 
Vitton had 12 saves in the setback to the Hoyas, including eight in the first half when the Wildcats kept the game close on a wet night that saw heavy rain fall throughout the contest. It is the ninth time this season and the third time in conference play that Vitton has made 10+ saves. He passed Drew Cunningham (1982-85) for third place in school history with 654 career stops, 25 fewer than school record holder Joe Canuso (2003-06) who had a school-record 679 saves during his career.
 
Georgetown got on the board first in the game with a goal in the opening minute of play before Campbell tied the score at 1-1 with his 35^th goal of the season less than a minute later. Campbell and Daly each had man-up tallies in the first period, with Daly's first goal of the day at the 4:16 mark of the quarter pulling Villanova to within one goal at 3-2. The teams alternated scoring for the remainder of the opening half. Fifth year midfielder Austin Fraser (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) scored with exactly four minutes to play before halftime and senior Mason Reale (Westport, Conn.) opened the second half scoring on a goal with 12:04 to play in the third period.
 
The bracket for the 2023 BIG EAST Men's Lacrosse Championship presented by JEEP will be revealed on Saturday afternoon following the final game of the regular season between Providence and St. John's. That contest will determine the fourth seed in next week's conference tournament hosted by Marquette on Thursday, May 4 and Saturday, May 6. One semifinal matchup is set however, as the #3 seed Wildcats will face #2 seed Denver on Thursday. The time of that game will be announced on Saturday along with the bracket reveal.